Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8

Performance

So can this tiny little guy deliver the goods? With regards to autofocus, absolutely. Focus is very quick and sure. On a modern Micro 4/3 body like the Panasonic GX1 or Olympus E-P3, it feels nearly instant. It also locks extremely accurately. The lens uses Olympus’ “Movie-Still-Capable” (MSC) motor, which is virtually silent, and can only be heard if your ear is pressed to the lens body. The 45mm f/1.8 has a minimum focus distance of 0.5m, which isn’t exceptionally close for a 45mm lens, but is quite nice when compared to its full frame counterparts. Most 85mm lenses have a minimum focus distance of around 0.9m-1.0m. This allows for very tight headshots, even of children.

The lens in movie mode focuses well, with accurate and inaudible focusing. I prefer to use manual focus for filming, and the 45mm f/1.8 works well here as well, though the small size of the lens makes this less desirable than on some larger lenses.

Image quality

A Girl and Her Dog - Panasonic GH2 with Olympus 45mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8

The Olympus 45mm f/1.8 is absolutely stunningly good optically. The lens is extremely sharp straight from f/1.8. There is absolutely no loss of contrast wide open either, which means that the fast f/1.8 aperture is completely usable, with no need to stop down to correct optical aberrations. It is always wonderful to have a lens where aperture selection becomes purely about depth of field, rather than trying to overcome a lens’ faults at wider apertures, and the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 delivers in spades here.

Lens contrast is just right for a portrait lens. It provides great macro contrast and sharpness without being harsh. In fact, with skin tones, it maintains a beautiful even tone curve that is very flattering to your subject. The only downside for portrait use is that you may need to soften some details on models with less than perfect skin due to the extremely high resolution. Click on the image at the right for a larger view and see the crisp detail the lens can deliver at f/1.8, while maintaining good skin tones and high global contrast. The contrast works very well for non-portrait subjects as well, delivering rich color and great texture.

The lens controls chromatic aberration quite well, with essentially zero lateral CA in field use, and well controlled (though occasionally visible) longitudinal chromatic aberration, which only shows up on very high contrast backgrounds and foregrounds in the specular highlights.

Wild Lights - Panasonic GH2 with Olympus 45mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8

Flare is extremely well controlled with this lens, so shooting with lights in the frame is no problem. There is very mild pincushion distortion, though you’d be hard pressed to ever see it in real world photos. In my opinion it is a complete non-issue.

Despite the outstanding resolution, the lens manages to produce very pleasing bokeh as well. Specular highlights are generally round and evenly illuminated. There can occasionally be a very light bright ring around specular highlights, but even when it shows up, it is not objectionable. Non-specular out of focus areas are smooth and creamy. The combination of high resolution and smooth bokeh means that shooting with wide apertures yields quality imaging on a very high level.

Conclusion

So where does it fall down? In truth, hardly anywhere. The bokeh isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it’s very pleasing. It’s not completely apochromatic, but I’ve yet to have a single shot ruined by CA. About the only thing I could wish for is that Olympus had used the same beautiful metal finish as they did on the 12mm f/2 for this lens. When you handle both, the 45mm feels like a cheaper lens in comparison. It would be nice if they had given it the exterior worthy of the outstanding optics.

The Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 is an absolutely stellar lens. In fact, of all the lenses I’ve owned in the portrait range, including several top tier Canon L primes, this ranks right up near the top. That may sound unbelievable, but it’s true. Of course, those lenses on a full frame camera will enable you to take images with significantly shallower depth of field, but that’s a limitation of the system, and not a fault of this lens.

It is blisteringly sharp at all apertures, yet maintains a medium contrast curve and outstanding bokeh. Autofocus is exceptionally fast and accurate and coupled with the small size makes this lens an absolute joy to use. This lens is a must-have for anyone using the Micro 4/3 system, and combined with any of the newer Micro 4/3 bodies, makes a compact portrait package that can compete with most any camera system. It is, in my opinion, the crown jewel of the Micro 4/3 system and one of the best lenses I have ever had the pleasure to own.

19 thoughts on “Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8”

thanks for a concise and highly readable review …. as an owner of the m. zukio 12mm f 2 lens the only thing i would add to your conclusionary remarks comparing the lenses is that the 12 , while being a focus by wire design does have a finite throw of its focus mechanism…. i mush prefer this to the spinning behavior of the 45
or most other modern lenses

your review has cemented it for me , i was leaning toward getting this lens . but now i have firmly decided to buy it …

Good review, Jordan. Who has it, loves it. Who doesn’t, wants it. What’s more to say? Oh, perhaps that it didn’t leave my wife’s camera since her birthday in early February. That’s good for me, because now I can borrow her 20mm from time to time 😉

Great Review Jordan. I have the Panasonic Leica 45mm macro, and noted that you must have it as well. While these lenses are a bit different in that the PL 45mm is a macro after all and the Olympus 45mm is faster at f/1.8. I was curious on your views about the differences in the image rendering between the two. Do you see the benefits of the Olympus being great enough to own alongside the PL 45mm?

would you rather the 12mm f2.0 or the 45mm f1.8?
i have heard there is a new lens coming out for olympus
“The M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm F1.8 lens”
what is the best prime for m zuiko???
as a fashion photographer id love your advice on these primes in comparison to each other?
thanks

I must be the only person in the world that simply does not like this lens. Compared too the Panasonic 45 the Olympus has ugly bokeh, and not nice rendering of colours. It also does not have the same creamy feel to the images in my opinion. The olympus is a very fine lens for the money, but i end up never using it.

A little late to this review, but I’ll answer some questions. I own both the PL45 and the Olympus 45, and have used both on my previous GX1 and my new E-M5.

Benefits of O45 over PL45:

Smaller – significantly so, largely due to the in-lens stabilization and macro ability of the PL45.

Faster – over 1 stop faster, which helps with low light to keep shutter speeds faster and/or ISO lower (though, E-M5’s low light ability does help some with the PL45 vs. my older GX1, as ISO3200 becomes useful) and when you absolutely need to isolate your subject from the background. It’s harder to get that “DSLR look” that some crave on m43 due to the higher crop factor (much harder vs. full frame, a little harder vs. APS-C “crop sensor” DSLRs), so having the option to open the aperture up wider definitely helps. It takes more careful planning (e.g., background further away) to get the same look with the PL45.

Drawbacks of O45:

No real macro ability – may not be a big deal for many

No in-lens stabilization – definitely noticeable on Panasonic bodies, which lack in-body IS, but not on Olympus bodies, especially the E-M5. Note: this IS only helps with camera movement, not with subject movement (blur).

Lower build quality – it does feel a little cheap compared to the PL45

Bokeh – very subjective, but I agree with TCK that, all else equal (aperture, distances, etc.), I prefer the PL45 bokeh (how nice the blurry parts look.) Of course, being able to shoot at f/1.8 with allow for a lot more background blur, if desired, so I’d take the desired amount of “good” bokeh over too little “great” bokeh when that’s what I’m going for.

Comes in black – again, very subjective, but I hate that Olympus has only introduced one of its current primes (12/2, 17/1.8, 45/1.8 and 75/1.8) in black, and that was a $300 premium over the “silver (champagne) version (though, it did come with a hood … *rolling eyes*.) The PL45 looks amazing on the E-M5, while the O45 looks ok … interesting … something.

Size – sometimes having a little more lens to hold onto with your left hand helps to stabilize it. The O45 seems almost too small in this regard. Also, the PL45 just looks more proportionate with my E-M5, especially with the 1st part of the HLD-6 grip on it.

So, there are reasons to own both. If you have an Olympus body and don’t to much macro work, then the O45 is fine on its own.

Dreamcatcher: the 12, 45 and 75 will have radically different fields of view, so that should be your reason for choosing one. The 12mm is quite wide, so you get the whole scene, but will have perspective problems if you get in close enough to focus on a single person. The 45 is a “normal” lens that gives you something close to what we humans are used to. It’s good for basic portraits, including full body (move back a little.) The 75 is optically phenomenal – one of the best lenses on any system – but is very long, so it is only useful for head-and-shoulder portraits (or other things like sports and birds) … but they will be absolutely beautiful!! Talk about buttery bokeh!!

They are both phenomenal lenses. I have reviewed both here, so take a look at their reviews. Overall, the 75mm is the better lens for portraits simply because of the ability to control depth of field a little more. It’s also the sharper lens by just a hair (though you’d be very hard pressed to see it). The 60/2.8 is also extremely sharp, has almost no chromatic aberration and has very pleasing bokeh as well, though not as much blur capability as the 75mm. They both produce very punchy, sharp images with smooth backgrounds and great color. The 60mm is a little more versatile, since it can do great portraits and phenomenal macro work, while the 75mm is a more specialist length, but it’s also better at infinity. Pick your poison. I own both and plan on keeping both, but if I could only keep one, I’d likely keep the 60mm for it’s dual duty capability, even though I think the 75mm is probably the best portrait lens I’ve ever owned.

Hello, I’m new here and very glad to have found this site. Thanks for the great review Jordan. The lack of statistics and datasheets makes your reviews thoroughly enjoyable !
Just for info : I own the Oly 45mm f/1.8 IN BLACK !! I live in Europe though, so it may be different here. We get the lens in silver OR black.
And I agree: it’s an absolutely fantastic lens !

Archives

We use cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You may consent to the use of cookies or opt out. AcceptRejectRead More